TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2015//
TI  - Profiles of medicinal cannabis patients attending compassion centers in Rhode Island
JO  - Journal of psychoactive drugs
A1  - Zaller, Nickolas
A1  - Topletz, Ariel
A1  - Frater, Susan
A1  - Yates, Gail
A1  - Lally, Michelle
SP  - 18
EP  - 23
VL  - 47
IS  - 1
N2  - Little is understood regarding medicinal marijuana dispensary users. We sought to characterize socio-demographics and reasons for medicinal marijuana use among medical cannabis dispensary patients in Rhode Island. Participants (n=200) were recruited from one of two Compassion Centers in Rhode Island and asked to participate in a short survey, which included assessment of pain interference using the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI). The majority of participants were male (73%), Caucasian (80%), college educated (68%), and had health insurance (89%). The most common reason for medicinal marijuana use was determined to be chronic pain management. Participants were more likely to have BPI pain interference scores of > 5 if they were older (OR: 1.36, 95% CI: 1.04-1.78) or reported using cannabis as a substitute for prescription medications (OR: 2.47, 95% CI: 1.23-4.95), and were less likely to have interference scores of >5 if they had higher income levels (OR: 0.53, 95% CI: 0.40-0.70) or reported having ever received treatment for an alcohol use disorder. One-fifth of participants had a history of a drug or alcohol use disorder. Most participants report that medicinal cannabis improves their pain symptomology, and are interested in alternative treatment options to opioid-based treatment regimens.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0279-1072
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02791072.2014.999901
ID  - ref1
ER  -